– THE BIG STORY –

The story of the day today is an old story, of Jews fleeing from the land of Egypt to find a nice if historically contested spot of land a bit to the Northeast. It’s also the story of a young man of unimpeachable parentage whose agonizing death—after a dinner party commemorating that earlier flight—gave birth to a day of remembrance with a somewhat ironic name, considering how much people like him. Here’s some art to commemorate the former and the latter. Pass the kugel, Veronese!

– QUOTE OF THE DAY –

“We plan to demonstrate in court that, a) each work is authentic and, b) even if they are not authentic, Ann at all times acted in good faith and believed them to be authentic.” – Boies, Schiller & Flexner lawyer Nicholas Gravante, Jr. revealing his strategy in defending former Knoedler Gallery president Ann Freedman against allegations that she sold millions of dollars in fake Ab Ex paintings

– MUST READ –

Kanye West Drops Latest George Condo Cover – The rapper has Tweeted the image of a new artwork by the grotesquerie-loving painter for his single Theraflu, showing a headless and topless woman in a mink jacket with flu medicine where her head should be. (Gallerist NY)

Patti Smith and DJ Spooky Play the Met – The punk high priestess will return to the museum (now a frequent stomping ground) to play a salute to Warhol timed to the show Regarding Warhol: Fifty Artists, Fifty Years, and Paul D. Miller will receive a residency as part of the Met Unframed program. (NYT)

Lichtenstein Looks Better These Days – In reporting the first retrospective of the Pop artist in almost two decades (opening next month at the Art Institute of Chicago and touring to the NGA, Tate Modern, and the Pompidou), Carol Vogel digs up a chestnut of an old Life magazine article on Lichtenstein from 1964 asking, “Is He the Worst Artist in the U.S.?” (NYT)

Museum Funding Still Lags in Recovering Economy – An Art Newspaper survey of museum directors from the Met’s Thomas Campbell to the Philadelphia Museum of Art‘s Timothy Rub shows that while art institutions are managing to raise millions from donors, but still not enough to regain a secure footing. (TAN)

– ART MARKET –

William Eggleston Sued Over Reprints – Collector Jonathan Sobel is taking the revered photographer to court over recent giant-sized prints he has been making of his classic early works, with Sobel contending that the huge sums achieved by the new pieces (one sold for $578,500 at Christie’s last month, a new artist record) are throwing the valuation of the original works out of whack. (WSJ)

Sotheby’s Keeps Cambodian Statue for Now – After threatening to seize an allegedly looted 10th-century sculpture from the auction house, U.S. Homeland Security agents allowed Sotheby’s to retain the work and set up an April 12 hearing on the matter. (NYT)

– IN & OUT –

Longtime Christie’s specialist Thomas Seydoux has quit the auction house after 15 years chairing its Impressionist/modern department, taking his megarich rolodex to open up shop as a private dealer. (NYT)

– VIDEO –

Watch Calder Foundation president Alexander S.C. Rower talk about the way the artist (his grandfather) was influenced by a historic meeting with Mondrian.

Posted on: April 6th, 2012 by Andrew
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